The building has an interesting history. It was built as a quarantine station and functioned as such during the period 1922-1930. After the station was closed down, the building was used for a while as housing for several families. When Norway set up a neutrality guard because of unrest abroad, the building was used for military purposes from 1939-1940. From 1940 to 1945, the German occupation forces used the building as a barracks and dental surgery. Following the German capitulation, Lushaugen was put in order and used as an internment camp for Nazis, front fighters and Gestapo personnel. The municipality took over the property from 1948 onwards and Salvation Army slum sisters ran an old people’s home there until 1973. Following the relocation of the elderly inhabitants, the old building stood empty for a long while, used as a youth club premises for just a short period at the beginning of the 1970s. By the time the Museum Association took an interest in the building in 1986, the building had decayed considerably, but a process of restoration was set in train. Lushaugen was ready to be used for museum purposes by 1989, coinciding with the bicentenary celebrations of Vardø’s town status. Today, Lushaugen houses a modern museum 1000 square metres in size. Here there are exhibitions, administrative offices, storage facilities and workshops.

The oldest museum in Finnmark was founded in 1894 purely as a natural history museum. In the course of the first 30 years of its existence it acquired a large collection of bird, egg, plant and shellfish exhibits. Following an interruption of several years, the museum was re-established under the name of Vardøhus Museum.